PAT question

[InsideTheStripe]

Originally Posted by MikeStrybel

Our league, the TCYFL, uses IHSA/NFHS rules modified largely for safety and participation. We are one of the few Featherweight teams (9-10 year olds under 100 pounds) who kick PATs. It is an advantage since they award two points for the conversion. The TCYFL rule books states this:


My question is this: Is it legal for the defense to block the guards into the center in an attempt to collapse the middle and block the kick? I have seen this enforced a couple ways this season. One crew insists that the center is sacred, as he is not allowed to move and thus defend himself. Another contends that the defense can run through his gap as long as they attempt to engage the guard rather than the center (wink, wink).

I appreciate your interps, as this will help us defend the PAT properly from both sides of the ball. Thank you in advance!

As someone who has worked over 600 games in the TCYFL in the last 5 years, I still can't wrap my head around why rushing by the defense is allowed at the featherweight level for some scrimmage kicks and not others.

That said, most of the guys I know and work with won't be overly technical here. Rarely does the center stay perfectly still (how unnatural is that?), so he's rarely in need of the complete hands-off protection the rule affords him. As long as you are not hitting the center with a direct charge or intentionally initiating malicious contact against him while he's perfectly still and defenseless (yourself or with an offensive player being blocked), you're probably not going to see many calls here. In fact, absent a direct charge the most likely initial outcome is a "talking to".

If I remember correctly, you coach a MAC/PAC team. You may be seeing some inconsistency here because you have two different groups of officials (assigned by different assignors) calling your games depending on the game site. I'm not saying that it is happening, but officials may be getting conflicting information on how this should be called by different assignment chairmen.